Cheon Woo-rin shook his head, denying the Jin Sa-wol he saw before his eyes.
"This is a dream. Yes, it must be a dream!"
Cheon Woo-rin looked at Jin Sa-wol with empty eyes, desperately hoping it was a dream.
Jin Sa-wol took out a dagger from his bosom. The sharp white light of the Night Flower stimulated Cheon Woo-rin's eyes.
Jin Sa-wol, with an indifferent face, stabbed Cheon Woo-rin's left shoulder. The dagger pierced Cheon Woo-rin's shoulder with too much ease.
Cheon Woo-rin's face contorted in pain.
"Kraaak!"
"I told you last night I wouldn't kill you easily."
"Shit! Just kill ! Kill ."
Thrust!
As Cheon Woo-rin had said, Jin Sa-wol stabbed his chest. The dagger, stained with red blood, was deeply embedded in his chest.
Cheon Woo-rin trembled all over and turned his eyes to Jin Sa-wol. It was a look that said he never thought he would actually kill him.
"If you were going to kill
like this... why give
useless hope..."
"So you could at least dream. So you could escape the hellish pain for a mont. Think of it as the last rcy I bestow."
"You will go to hell."
At Cheon Woo-rin's words, Jin Sa-wol pulled out the dagger and cut his throat.
Blood splattered.
Jin Sa-wol wiped the blood from the Night Flower on Cheon Woo-rin's clothes.
Cheon Woo-rin remained motionless with his eyes wide open.
Jin Sa-wol, with Cheon Woo-rin's body in front of him, took out a mask with a face as if nothing had happened.
One side of his chest should have felt relieved, but he felt no emotion at all.
Jin Sa-wol, wearing the mask, turned his eyes towards the two people crossing the lake.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Splash! Splash!
"Lord Cheon."
"Lord!"
Song Bi and Faction Leader Seo, who had high martial arts skills, crossed by stepping on the rocks and boulders protruding from the lake.
The two who ca ashore looked back and forth between the dead Cheon Woo-rin and the masked man.
"You dare to kill Lord Cheon? You will not die a peaceful death."
Whoosh!
Song Bi, who had drawn his sword, attacked Jin Sa-wol without delay.
Song Bi, who was extending his sword to cut Jin Sa-wol's neck, saw a light flash before his eyes.
Clang!
"Hmph!"
The hand holding the sword stopped with a powerful shock. Imdiately after, Jin Sa-wol's sword cutting his chest ca into his eyes.
Slice!
The sword wound, starting from his right waist, drew a diagonal line to his left shoulder.
"Heok!"
He opened his eyes wide, more surprised than in pain.
The power and fast sword he had never experienced before brought him to his senses. The gatekeeper that Mun-gang and Hwang-jeong had ntioned flashed through his mind.
"You bastard!"
Song Bi, who was raising his voice, caught sight of the mask that had passed by him. Imdiately after, he felt a strange sensation in his neck.
"Damn it, shit!"
Song Bi, who was shouting while holding his neck, collapsed powerlessly. Red blood was constantly pouring from his neck.
Faction Leader Seo, who saw that scene, opened her eyes wide.
"Heok!"
Splash!
She jumped into the lake without looking back.
Song Bi, the Pavilion Master of the Wind Blood Pavilion, had died without even being able to resist properly. She was so surprised that her heart was about to jump out.
Jin Sa-wol jumped into the air and threw his dagger.
Thwack!
The dagger embedded itself in the back of Faction Leader Seo's head with too much ease.
Whoosh!
Jin Sa-wol, who had co down to the lake, retrieved the dagger embedded in Faction Leader Seo's head and jumped up.
* * *
Fwoosh!
The buildings of the Esoteric Sect began to burn. Smoke was rising high from the buildings full of corpses.
Hwang-jeong, who was standing in front of the cliff, leaving behind the warriors of the Wind Blood Pavilion who were cleaning up the surroundings, was startled to see a masked man running from afar and turned his body.
"We're getting out of here! Everyone go down! Hurry!"
Hwang-jeong ran first, and the warriors of the Wind Blood Pavilion ran after him.
Jin Sa-wol, who had jumped towards the fleeing warriors of the Wind Blood Pavilion, stopped in front of the burning building.
Rumble! Thump!
The pavilion collapsed, and the sound of thunder echoed.
As he was watching the burning pavilion for a mont, feeling the hot heat, Jo Geom-ok approached.
"You burned it in the end?"
"It wasn't , but the Demonic Cult that burned it."
Jin Sa-wol answered and then showed a disappointed expression. The place where his past mories remained was burning and disappearing.
"You look satisfied."
At Jo Geom-ok's words, Jin Sa-wol frowned, not knowing what she ant.
Jo Geom-ok looked as if she knew what Jin Sa-wol was thinking just by looking at his expression.
It was that kind of look.
Jin Sa-wol avoided Jo Geom-ok's eyes and asked.
"Why did you co? I would have gone down if you waited."
"Just because."
She couldn't bring herself to say that she had co because she was worried.
Jo Geom-ok asked as if she had rembered sothing.
"Did you kill Cheon Woo-rin?"
"I did. Why did you think I would kill Cheon Woo-rin?"
"You laughed when Ae-hwa ntioned Cheon Woo-rin."
At Jo Geom-ok's words, Jin Sa-wol had nothing to say. When he heard the na Cheon Woo-rin, his heart had pounded, and he had laughed without realizing it.
Excitent was an emotion that could not be hidden.
"Did you see the Esoteric Sect Leader die with your own eyes?"
"I didn't. When I left this place, led by Jo Han-yu, what I heard was that most of the Esoteric Sect's followers had died. I also heard that the Esoteric Sect Leader had died a miserable death."
"I see."
"But why?"
When Jo Geom-ok asked, Jin Sa-wol gave a troubled look.
"Because I didn't see it either."
"You don't an he's alive?"
"I don't know."
At the answer 'I don't know', Jo Geom-ok shook her head.
"It's good to have hope, but abandon that hope. The Esoteric Sect Leader is dead. And if he were alive, he would have found you."
"He's not that kind of person."
Jin Sa-wol answered and then walked slowly. Jo Geom-ok followed beside him.
Jo Geom-ok sighed at Jin Sa-wol's negative words and changed the subject.
"Since Cheon Woo-rin is dead, the Demonic Cult's anger must be great."
"Would they be angry when they pushed their own son into a deadly situation? It seems they sent him here deliberately, hoping he would die."
"Abandoning your own child?"
"That's right."
"How many such parents are there?"
"Many. You were sold too, weren't you? Why do you deny yourself?"
At Jin Sa-wol's words, Jo Geom-ok stopped walking with a hardened expression. The mory of her childhood when she was sold for money ca to mind.
It was a nightmare-like event, and sothing she didn't want to rember.
"You annoying bastard."
Although she whispered in a low voice, Jin Sa-wol heard everything. Jo Geom-ok clenched her fist and was about to hit the back of Jin Sa-wol's head.
"Did you find your parents?"
As Jin Sa-wol turned his body, Jo Geom-ok quickly changed her expression and lowered her fist.
"They're dead."
"You?"
Jo Geom-ok glared at Jin Sa-wol with a face of disbelief. No matter how much she went off the rails and had a lot of resentnt towards her parents, it wasn't to the point of killing them.
In the Esoteric Sect, she had learned that she had to kill everyone, but after entering under Jo Han-yu, she had grown up with a proper education.
Although she was similar to Jin Sa-wol, she had the values of an orthodox martial artist.
"Are you crazy? No matter how much I was with you in the Esoteric Sect, I haven't fallen that far. I'm not a demonic person."
"Then that's a relief."
Seeing the denying Jo Geom-ok, Jin Sa-wol walked with a face devoid of any particular emotion. But he had to stop walking at Jo Geom-ok's words.
"San-i killed them."
"San?"
Hearing the na San, Jin Sa-wol tilted his head and asked.
"The San I rember?"
"That's right."
Jo Geom-ok nodded.
Jin Sa-wol recalled the face of a young boy.
-I'm going to be the best. So I'm going to kill you, brother.
-Why ?
-Because if I kill you, I can prove that I'm the best.
Jin Sa-wol recalled the mory of laughing at what a five-year-old boy had said. Jo Geom-ok said.
"He's famous in the martial world now."
"Who is he?"
"Leng Yushan. The young master of the Ice Palace."
Jo Geom-ok smiled, but Jin Sa-wol showed no particular reaction. Jo Geom-ok continued to speak to Jin Sa-wol.
"I t him at the Martial Alliance a few years ago. Of course, I had t him a few tis before that. He grew up very well. Handso, and as his nickna 'Jade Face' suggests, he's a handso man with high martial arts. He's also popular with the won of the martial world."
While talking, she observed Jin Sa-wol's expression, but Jin Sa-wol showed no reaction.
She had thought it would be nice if he were even a little jealous, but Jin Sa-wol seed to have no interest at all.
Jin Sa-wol stopped at the entrance of the stairs leading down to the fifth gate. Jo Geom-ok's voice still tornted Jin Sa-wol's ears.
"He still follows
around, calling
'noona, noona'."
"Why did San-i kill your parents?"
Jin Sa-wol asked what he was curious about.
Jo Geom-ok frowned, as if angry at the indifferent Jin Sa-wol.
"He told
when he ca to the alliance last year. He said he had taken revenge for ."
As Jo Geom-ok's voice lowered, Jin Sa-wol let out a long sigh.
Jin Sa-wol suddenly threw out a word.
"You didn't like it."
As Jin Sa-wol had said, Jo Geom-ok couldn't smile at the news that her parents had died.
To be honest, she had once gone to kill her parents. She wanted to know how well the parents who had sold their child for money were living.
But what she saw were her sick parents still living in a poor village. Nothing had changed from the past to the present.
She wondered if they had sold their daughter to live like that.
"Let's go back."
At Jin Sa-wol's words, Jo Geom-ok put away her mories.
* * *
Mun-gang, who had co out through the secret passage leading to the fifth gate, smiled when he saw the hundreds of martial artists waiting in front.
Mun-gang knew well who they were.
"Brother Mun."
As the martial artists parted to the left and right, Dokgo Hyeon stepped forward. Mun-gang smiled when he saw him.
"Have you been waiting long?"
"It's been about an hour. I left the valley in the morning."
"You ca out early. What happened? The elder..."
"He had a mutual destruction with Lord Yuk."
With a long sigh, Dokgo Hyeon told him what had happened above. It was a story about how he had obtained a few secret manuals from the secret warehouse of the Esoteric Sect, had to fight Dan Ji-hyu of the Diancang Sect, and had a mutual destruction with Yuk Sam-yuk because of the secret manuals.
"Did you et the gatekeeper?"
"Gatekeeper? Who is that?"
"The master who tornted us. The number of subordinates who died at his hands is over fifty."
"I haven't seen such a person."
Dokgo Hyeon showed a face as if it were the first ti he had heard of it. Mun-gang, recalling the morning when he had struggled with the gatekeeper, put strength into his voice.
"That's not all. Lord Cheon was kidnapped."
At the word 'kidnapped', Dokgo Hyeon did not seem to have much emotion. On the contrary, he looked as if he had expected it. That's how it looked in Mun-gang's eyes.
"So you were on the sa side."
"I don't know what you're talking about, I don't know anything."
Dokgo Hyeon had to keep his secret promise with Jin Sa-wol. Because that would help him and the Dokgo family.
Mun-gang smiled and observed Dokgo Hyeon's expression.
"Lord Cheon is dead. On top of that, Lord Yuk and Kang Hang are also dead. Besides them, hundreds of people have died."
"Many martial artists have died."
"I know. What I want to say is, us. If only we return alive, will the cult really stay still? The investigation team will co out anyway, and we will also be investigated, so will it be okay? How about you tell
the truth? We need to get our stories straight. Who is the gatekeeper?"
Mun-gang thought that if the gatekeeper he had t in the morning was Dokgo Hyeon's comrade, the things he had experienced would more or less match up.
The fact that only Cheon Woo-rin was kidnapped could also be a warning to Cheon Yu-myeong.
Dokgo Hyeon shook his head.
"I don't know anything. And just a mont ago, a large number of orthodox martial artists entered the valley. Most of the cult mbers remaining in the valley will die at their hands. How many will survive and escape this place?"
"If there are?"
"We must kill them."
Dokgo Hyeon's answer was firm. Mun-gang stroked his beard and stood side by side with Dokgo Hyeon.
Thump-thump!
The sound of urgent footsteps was heard from inside the dark passage.
"Heok! Heok!"
Hwang-jeong, who had rushed out, gasped for breath. Dokgo Hyeon, as if he had no choice, gripped the hilt of his sword.
Mun-gang let out a deep sigh with a regretful expression and drew his saber.
Shing
(End of Chapter)
Reviews
All reviews (0)